Response analysis of asymmetric monostable energy harvester with an uncertain parameter

Abstract

The nonlinear piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting system offers a solution to the power supply challenge for low-power sensors. However, In practical engineering, structural parameter uncertainties arise from manufacturing errors, environmental temperature fluctuations, and changes in material properties. Besides, due to inherent flaws in the structure and materials, asymmetry may occur in the potential well, which leads to the complexity of the dynamic behavior exhibited in energy harvesting system. In this paper, in order to investigate the dynamics of the asymmetric monostable piezoelectric energy harvesting system under an uncertain parameter, the orthogonal polynomial approximation method is applied to transform the stochastic system into an equivalent deterministic system. Then, the responses of the equivalent deterministic system are used to reveal the stochastic behavior of the uncertainty system. The results indicate that, when the uncertainty intensity of the cubic nonlinear coefficient is 0, an increase in the asymmetry level of the potential well leads to an increase in the output voltage. Increasing the other parameters, the output voltage is reduced. In addition, as the uncertainty intensity increases, the parameter intervals of chaotic response become wider and the energy harvesting efficiency decreases. Moreover, as the potential well asymmetry increases, the sensitivity of energy harvesting system to uncertain parameter increases.